Feed-board for roller-mills.



No. 636,873. Patented Nov. I4, I899.

12. J. F. WALKER.

FEED BOARD FOR ROLLER MILLS.

(Application filed Apr. 21, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES ATEN E'ErcE.

ROBERT J. F. WALKER, OF MooRHEAD, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO ALFRED B. HELLYAR, or SAME PLACE.

FEED-BOARD FOR ROLLER-MILLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,873, dated November 14, 1899.

App ication fi April 21, 1899. Serial No. 713,965. 1N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT J. F. WALKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Moorhead, in the county of Clay and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed Boards for Roller-Mills; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertaius to make and use the same.

My invention relates to roller mills for grinding flour and feed, and is especially directed to the improvement to what are known as three-roller mills.

The especial object of my said invention is to provide an improved feed-board for controlling the delivery of the partially-ground grain from the upper to the lower or, in other words, from the primary to the secondary reducers; and to this end my invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

Theinvention in its preferred form is shown as applied to an ordinary three-roller mill in the illustration given in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, like characters indicating like parts throughout both views, Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section taken centrally through the three-roller mill, having my improved feed-board applied in working position thereto; and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my feed-board removed from the machine.

The hollow shell-like frame or case of the machine is indicated by the numeral 1. This case is shown as provided with hinged doors or link-sections 2 and 3, which afford access at several points to the interior thereof. In the upper portion of the case 1 is a hopper 4, in the bottom of which a feed-roller 5 is mounted to work in cooperation with an adjustable gate 6, which, as shown, is controlled by a rack 7 and pinion 8. Below the hopper 4 is a pair of reversely-inclined feed-boards 9 and 10. From the feed-board 10 the grain is delivered onto the large member 11 of the three grinding-rollers 11 12 13. In the ordinary construction of mills of this character the grain which passes between the rollers 11 and 12 and is partially reduced thereby is thrown against an inclined feed-board 14 and by this board 14 is directed between the rollers l1 and 13, where the final reduction of the grain is accomplished. The construction thus far described is that of an ordinary socalled three-roller mill, and the grindingrollers 11, 12, and 13 and feed-roller 5 may be driven by any of the ordinary means usually employed, but not necessary for the purposes of this case to illustrate. With this ordinary construction the partially-reduced grain which is discharged between the rollers 11 and 12 will be thrown against the feed-board 14 approximately at a right angle thereto, so that its momentum will be entirely overcome, and it will then fall under the action of gravity resisted by the friction of the feed-board 14 thereon and will be guided between the rollers 11 and 13. In this manner it is very evident that a great deal of the force which has been or might have been imparted to the partially-reduced grain by the combined action of gravity and the feed-rollers 11 12 is lost by the action of the feed-board 14 thereon, as above described. This loss of the feeding force of the partially-reduced grain is a very serious matter, inasmuch as the rollers 11 and 13 work very closely together, and hence tend to produce a slower feed than is given between the rollers 11 and 12.

By my invention I greatly improve the action of the feed-board, which directs the par tially-ground grain over the roller 11 from the roller 12 to the roller 13, and this I accomplish by the provision of a feed-board the guiding-surface of which is cylindrical and is disposed concentric or approximately concentric to the periphery of the main roller 11. Preferably this improved feed-board is formed of thin metal bent to form a segment of a cylinder and provided with a device or devices for detachably securing it to the ordinary feed-board 14 or other suitable part of an ordinary three-roller mill. In the draw ings this improved concave feed-board is in dicated by the character or, the same being provided at its lower edge with severalas shown, two-notches or screw-seats-a/ and at its upper end with an outturned flange a to which a hook I) is shown secured by an eye Z). The free end of the hook I) is adapted to engage with a screw-eye Z2 which, as shown, is secured to the upper portion of the ordinary feed-board 14. To secure the improved concave feed-board a in working position without requiring the ordinary feed-board 14 to be removed, screws or other suitable headed projections c are provided at the lower edge of the said board 14. To secure the feedboard a, it is placed with its notches a, eugaged over the projecting ends of the screws 0 and the hook Z) is secured to the screw-eye 12 as shown in Fig. 1. Obviously this feedboard a is very readily detached or removed from working position.

The improved operation or action of m y concave feed-board will be substantially as follows: The partially ground or reduced grain to be fed between the rollers 11 and 12 will be thrown with considerable force into initial engagement with the concave guiding-surface of this improved feed-board a on a line approximately at a tangent to its concave surface, so that the said concave board will offer but veryslight resistance to the onward movement of the partially-reduced grain, but will deflect the same slightly downward and will assist the action of gravity in producing an accelerated descent of the said grain. Under this action almost the entire momentum im- 1 parted to the grain by the rollers ll'and 12 will be added to the action of gravity in producing a rapid descent, and hence a strong feed of the partially-ground grain to the point of delivery between the rollers 11 and 13.

My invention above described is of course capable of considerable modification in its construction and arrangement.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. In a three-roller mill, the combination with the three cooperating rollers 11, 12 and 13 and the ordinary feed-board 14, of the concave feed-board a detachably secured to the said feed-board 14, and supported thereby, said parts operating substantially as described.

2. In a three-roller mill, the combination with the three cooperating rollers 11, 12 and 13 and the feed-board 14 having the screws or headed projections c and the eye 12 of the concave feed-board a, a having the notches or seats a and the hook I), said parts operating substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT J. F. \VALKER.

\Vitnesses:

THOMAS ToRsoN, F. H. PETERSON. 

